James Ricci
*21 February 1954
Works by James Ricci
Biography
James Ricci (b. 1954 in NYC) has composed compelling works for solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral combinations.
He studied in Boston at the Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, and at Brandeis University with Donald Martino, Martin Boykan, and Harold Shapero. He also participated in diverse seminars and master classes in Europe and the United States with composers György Ligeti, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Earle Brown, Jacob Druckman, Ralph Shapey, Betsy Jolas, Sylvano Bussotti, and Anthony Payne.He studied with Milton Babbitt at the Indiana University Composer's Forum and at the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Music with Elliott Carter. As co-director of the LUMEN Contemporary Music Ensemble in Arlington MA, Ricci curated concerts of new music.
A disc of two recent works for orchestra - Rune and Night Music - has been released on the Ablaze Records label: Orchestral Masters vol. 9 (AR-00066). A collection of his music for piano has been released by David Holzman for Albany Records (TROY1875).
George Grella of NY Classical Review wrote, “Ricci explained that he took an intuitive approach to writing the music, exploring the pathways of his subconscious and the sound of the piano. It initially presents itself as an atonal work, but quickly and smoothly becomes the fundamentally romantic reverie of Ricci’s technical approach. The music seems to sound just the way it should and, in Holzman’s performance, was completely absorbing.”
New Music Connoisseur described Ricci’s Sonatina for solo viola as “…cleverly expressed, while the string writing is emotive, showy, and telling - a fine listen.”
His String Quartet (1984) - a work that won mention in the 1985 Boston League-ISCM Competition - has been recorded by the QX String Quartet for future commercial release.
In Boston Ricci held a position of Assistant Professor of Composition at the Berklee College of Music. He now resides in Chapel Hill, NC.
His work is affiliated with BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.).
About the music
Artist Statement
“From my perspective, the act of creating a new musical composition is a process where every aspect of the new work under construction must be considered with care. It is as if I were viewing it from a vantage point separate and high above. Composers have a unique capacity to observe every parameter of their music in detail with intense scrutiny and from a diverse range of angles. In this way, all shapes, patterns, density, tone color, expressions, transformations, and narratives can be carefully crafted or honed to achieve their intended results. It is a complicated, conceptual, and intuitive process in an oft-chaotic sound world. When searching for inspiration, a successful outcome is uncertain. Serendipity becomes the composers’ best friend.
The act of creating a new work of music lends to introspection. For me it is a way to explore the outer limits of what is possible – challenging my limitations and finite wellspring of imagination. Successfully completing a new piece of music is a celebrated as a cherished gift and a new insight.
An intimate view into the sheer mechanics of the compositional process can be an overwhelming experience. The inner-workings and scope of a work-in-progress is daunting and broad. The workflow usually involves a myriad of decisions that do not always find easy resolution. Musical events are typically intertwined and cross-connected to other extenuating factors – as in a chess game. However, if a wrong path is taken in the evolution of a composition, a tactical retreat, reevaluation, or retracement can be undertaken to return back to the intended goal or masterplan.
For me, sketching fragmentary and random ideas onto manuscript paper often leads to the initial genesis of a new work. From this starting point I intuit how and where the music will lead and catch a glimpse into the prospective life-journey of a piece. Much is revised, sorted, fine-tuned, or outright eliminated in the work process. As the seed of a piece grows into a vibrant, living object, the number of decision-making junctures increases exponentially.
It is necessary to look at the work-in-progress from multiple points of view. I regularly zoom-out to a perspective at 30-thousand feet for an overview, and then zoom-in to evaluate the details that comprise small events at an almost microscopic level. This enables me to comprehend and evaluate aspects of the music from a variety of perspectives and vantages.
A composer has the ability to manipulate – even cheat – the passage of time. By this I mean that in the process of writing the notes of music into the score, a composer can slow, speed-up, shift, and even stop the flow of temporal experience if so desired. This is done to express with better precision the ideas and musical patterns that can reside deep in the microcosm of the work. Thus, a year’s worth of creative thought can be compressed and distilled into a few short measures of performance – making music as a form of expression one of the densest artforms we can possibly imagine. How the overall form of a musical work comes to exist in time is one of the magic tricks in a composers’ toolbox. In the end, a piece needs to be fully-integrated within the time domain – from outside in, and from inside out.
At some point the concept of a new work must cumulate, graduate, and find legs in real-time performance by skilled musicians who are trained and equipped to interpret the dots, lines, and squiggles notated on the manuscript page and render it into a meaningful music expression. Writing music is an activity where the composer may deploy ideas that reside at the outer boundaries of what is technically possible while simultaiously respecting the practical and well-known performance parameters and acoustic limitations of an unmalleable, resource-limited world. Therein lies an interesting conundrum. Creating something truly new is in part an act of liberating what was previously unheard and previously thought to be impossible. Reaching to extend beyond existing artistic boundaries is a risky but necessary endeavor for the artist.
This sheds some light on what I acknowledge to the creative zone in which my music exists. I write music that strives to push to the edge of what is possible for me, for my performers, and to what an audience can reasonably be assumed to enjoy and comprehend. To do otherwise would lack artistic merit, lack magic, and compromise my sense of artistic integrity.”
-James Ricci